I think the last two times I vacationed in Bonaire, the government collapsed, I don’t know what I do to cause that political hoopla, but I must be doing something wrong. Besides politics, we did everything right.
We arrived on Insel air from Aruba via Curacao, on time. Wish they’d reinstate their direct flights! The taxi driver, a Russian woman by the name of Katja told us the story of her life while driving us from the Flamingo Airport to our hotel. It was a good story involving a Russian woman on vacation, falling in love with an irresistible Bonairian.
We stayed at the Divi Flamingo in one of the oceanfront rooms with a to-live-for-view, and dozens of crabs, sea gulls, sand pipers and fish, just outside our terrace, as our neighbors. On our first afternoon we took a dip in the ocean and a Campari & soda for sunset happy-hour, at the hotel’s Pure Ocean Bar. Dinner at Cuba Campagnie followed. It was a charming place, in the heart of Kralendijk, right next to Wilhelmina park. Cuba Campagnie is a chef owned restau with a great atmosphere and lovely food. It used to be a convent in the old days. The adjacent church is still active on Sundays.
Basically, we ate, drank, read, slept, and walked the promenade a bit, but generally avoided all strenuous activity! Bonaire is like that. It inspires me to do absolutely nothing.
Among the great places we visited, At Sea, a husband and wife owned terrace eatery, that’s perfect in many ways, from service to location to taste and presentation. As promised, At Sea, faces the sea, but just a few steps up the street a wrongly-motivated developer put a multiple story building, the South Pier Mall, on the ocean side. They would have had to call At Sea, At Building. But luckily, as I explained, the view was spared, the mall stopped short, a few steps up the street. We also lunched at It Rains Fishes Bar & Restaurant on the gorgeous veranda overlooking the bay and Klein Bonaire. There seems to be no danger of a developer plopping a building there.
A morning coffee at Cappuccino, an annex of Karel’s Bar, was followed by some vino at a new wine bar, the Barrel, normally overlooking the harbor but the day we visited, the view was completely blocked by sea containers. We visited to support the new venture, but we want our money back, ‘cause there was no sunset view as advertised!
Barrel Wine Bar South Pier Mall, Kaya C.E.B Helmund 6
The highlight of our visit in Bonaire was a day spent on the pool deck of a private home at SABADECO, within Santa Barbra, Development Company, our hosts were very gracious, and leisurely lunch on Sunday is always a good idea among friends.
In the evening we went to Empire Cinema, an open air theater with plastic chairs, a large screen, with state of the art sound. We watched the new Jungle Book in 3D, at this bare necessity movie facility. The owner’s wife cooked us spicy Thai food dinner, just before the movie started!
Kaya Katwijk 6, Hato, next to MCB Bank. Tel: 599 777-1122 Facebook: EMPIRE CINEMA